19 August 2009

Joni Mitchell's Norwegian ancestry

The Canadian musician, songwriter and painter Joni Mitchell (born Roberta Joan Anderson), who was born at Fort Macleod in Alberta in 1943, has in several interviews talked about her Norwegian ancestry.

The Norwegian genealogist Arnfrid Mæland, who holds Mithcell as one of her favourite musicians, invited in June 2009 other participants at the Norwegian genealogy forum Digitalarkivet's Brukarforumet to make a joint effort in finding Joni's Norwegian grandparents and if possibly further ancestry.

In early August Mæland published the first draft of part 1 of the singer's ancestry, Joni Mitchell - With ancestors from 'the Voss Fjord part of Norway'. The draft reveals among others that the family of Joni's paternal grandfather Henry Andersen (1873-1952) came from South Helgeland in Northern Norway, while her paternal grandmother Ingeborg "Emma" Gjertsdatter Andersen (b. 1882) came from Modalen in Hordaland county, a few miles north of Bergen. Emma's father was a third cousin of the Norwegian writer Henrik Wergeland (1808-1845).

The draft is written in English, while most of the discussion at Brukarforumet is in Norwegian.

1 comment:

Since I'm all but resigned to the simple fact that I will, in all liklihood, never meet Joni Mitchell (whose early music has been a continuing source of inspiration for me), I wonder where women who look like she did and display similar personality traits can be found in greater supply? Saskatchewan? Norway?

This blog is written by Dag T. Hoelseth, a Norwegian historian specialising in royal history.
I have a Cand.philol. degree in history from the University of Oslo and graduated in 1997 with the dissertation Det nasjonale kongedømme. Det norske monarkiet 1905-1910, which dealt with the royal election in Norway 1905 and how the new dynasty "became Norwegian".
I am the author of Historisk utredning om Kongehuset, dets apanasjer og disponible statseiendommer, which was published on behalf of the Palace Committee in 2001. The report focused among others on the history of the Norwegian civil list from 1905 to the 1970s as well as the properties the king of Norway has to his disposal.
I have made contributions to several antologies and also written articles for various publications. More often I have operated "behind the scene", consulting newspapers etc. with background information.
Among my other interests are genealogy, Norwegian-American emigration history, US presidential history, traveling, football and ice hockey.